Tom Brady didn’t like to see Logan Mankins go

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“I haven’t really spoken to anybody about it,” Tom Brady said of the trade that sent his good friend Logan Mankins to Tampa Bay.

By Trevor Hass
Globe Correspondent
September 03, 2014

Tom Brady said his main goal after the departure of his good friend, offensive lineman Logan Mankins, is to move on.

“I haven’t really spoken to anybody about it,” Brady said during his weekly appearance on WEEI Tuesday. “I have my own personal feelings that obviously are very personal to me. Whatever those are, I just want our team to be the best it can be for this year.”

Last week, the Patriots traded the six-time Pro Bowl guard to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for second-year tight end Tim Wright and a fourth-round draft pick in 2015. The move came as a surprise to many, including Brady.

“I love Logan,” Brady said. “Logan was a great friend of mine. Nobody stood for Patriot football more than him. But he’s moved on. I hope he’s happy. We’ll keep in touch.”

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Brady is focused on preparing for the season opener against the Dolphins Sunday.

Brady has seen many close friends come and go during his 15-year career, including fellow quarterback Ryan Mallett, who was traded Sunday. It doesn’t get any easier, he said, even though it happens frequently.

“I’m a very person-to-person type of person,” he said. “I am a very emotional person. I don’t think those things have ever gotten easier for me. And I don’t think they ever will. But you’ve got to come to grips with it also, and learn to deal with things in a mature way.”

Brady said it will be difficult for him to part ways with the Patriots, and that there’s nowhere he’d rather play than New England.

“When I suck, I’ll retire. I don’t plan on sucking for a long time,” he said, laughing. “Hopefully that leads me to being here, and there’s no place I’d rather be.”

New-look offense

When the Patriots play the Dolphins Sunday, the Miami offense will deploy a lot of the same key players from last year: quarterback Ryan Tannehill, running back Lamar Miller, wide receivers Mike Wallace and Brian Hartline, and tight end Charles Clay.

However, there’s one significant wrinkle that the Patriots defense will have to game plan for, and that’s new offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.

Lazor was the Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach in 2013 and worked closely with coach Chip Kelly as quarterback Nick Foles had a breakout season with 27 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in 13 games (10 starts).

The Dolphins hired Lazor in January to elevate an offense that ranked 27th in 2013, and it’s likely Miami’s new scheme will resemble Kelly’s signature up-tempo approach.

“I would say that they look very similar to the way the Eagles look offensively — different than what Miami looked like last year,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “I’d say it’s quite substantial.”

Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said the most notable difference is Tannehill’s improvement under Lazor.

“What I think they’ve done a great job of this year through the preseason is the quarterback position, with Ryan Tannehill being able to control and run the offense and do a good job with the different looks and the different problems that they set up with this type of offense,” Patricia said.

“I think they’ve done a good job to implement the system that Coach Lazor has brought with him, and done a good job through the preseason of efficiently running that offense.”

Wright stuff

Wright had hardly any time to prepare for the Patriots’ preseason finale against the Giants last Thursday after being acquired from Tampa Bay, but he still managed four catches for 43 yards.

McDaniels said he is impressed at how quickly Wright is getting acclimated to the offense and is excited to see what he can learn moving forward.

“We just got him, and he was able to come in here and learn enough to be able to go out there and play for us in a preseason game for 40-some snaps or whatever it was,” McDaniels said. “Hopefully we can build on his start and try to add a little here and there to what he knows of our offensive system and get our guys comfortable working together.”

Globe correspondent Anthony Gulizia contributed to this report. He can be reached at agulizia@globe.com.

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